Refinetti R, Nelson D E, Menaker M
Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville 22901.
J Comp Physiol A. 1992 Feb;170(2):181-7. doi: 10.1007/BF00196900.
The ability of social stimuli to act as entraining agents of circadian rhythms was investigated in golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus). In a first experiment, pairs of male hamsters (one of them enucleated and the other intact) were maintained under a ligh-dark (LD) cycle with a period of 23.3 h. Running-wheel activity was recorded to determine the effect of social interaction on the free-running circadian rhythm of activity. In several pairs, general activity and body temperature were also recorded. In all pairs the intact animals entrained to the LD cycle, whereas the activity rhythms of the enucleated animals free-ran with periods of approximately 24 h and showed no apparent sign of synchronization or relative coordination with the other member of the pair. In a second experiment, male hamsters maintained in constant darkness received pulses of social interaction, which have been reported to induce phase shifts of the activity rhythm. Consistent phase shifts in the running-wheel activity rhythm were not induced by the social pulses in our experiment. These results suggest strongly that social stimuli are not effective entraining agents of circadian rhythms in the golden hamster.
在金黄地鼠（Mesocricetus auratus）中研究了社会刺激作为昼夜节律同步因子的能力。在第一个实验中，将成对的雄性地鼠（其中一只摘除眼球，另一只保持完整）置于周期为23.3小时的明暗（LD）循环中。记录跑步轮活动以确定社会互动对自由运行的昼夜活动节律的影响。在几对中，还记录了总体活动和体温。在所有配对中，完整的动物与LD循环同步，而摘除眼球的动物的活动节律以约24小时的周期自由运行，并且没有与配对中的另一只动物同步或相对协调的明显迹象。在第二个实验中，饲养在持续黑暗中的雄性地鼠接受了社会互动脉冲，据报道这些脉冲会诱导活动节律的相位变化。在我们的实验中，社会脉冲并未诱导跑步轮活动节律出现一致的相位变化。这些结果强烈表明，社会刺激不是金黄地鼠昼夜节律的有效同步因子。
